Happy Easter 2018

RESURRECTION

O GOD OF MY EXODUS,
Great was the joy of Israel’s sons,
     when Egypt died upon the shore,
Far greater the joy
     when the Redeemer’s foe lay crushed in the dust.
Jesus strides forth as the victor,
     conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might;
He bursts the bands of death,
     tramples the powers of darkness down,
     and lives forever.

He, my gracious surety,
     apprehended for payment of my debt,
     comes forth from the prison house of the grave
     free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.
Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering is accepted,
                                                     that the claims of justice are satisfied,
                                                     that the devil’s scepter is shivered,
                                                     that his wrongful throne is levelled.
Give me the assurance that in Christ I died, in him I rose,
                                                       in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,
                                                       in his ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable Redeemer,
     thou who was lifted up upon a cross
     art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, who as Man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns,
     art now the Lord of life wreathed with glory.
Once, no shame more deep than thine,
             no agony more bitter, no death more cruel.
Now, no exaltation more high,
             no life more glorious, no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine enemies behind thee.
What more could be done than thou hast done!
     Thy death is my life,
     thy resurrection my peace,
     thy ascension my hope,
     thy prayers my comfort.

-Taken from “The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Payers & Devotions”

 

Year’s End

O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE,
Thou art good when thou givest,
                                when thou takest away,
                                when the sun shines upon me,
                                when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
   and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
   in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me during another year,
   leading me through a twisting wilderness,
   in retreat helping me to advance,
   when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
   with Thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
   thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
   I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
   I will see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
   grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
   I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
   as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

A prayer from “The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions”

Christians Without a Church

Recently we went to a Christian bookstore in town and saw this book. How, I cannot cease to wonder, someone call himself/herself a ‘Christian’ but has no love for the bride of Christ, the church.

I talked to a friend of mine last week and asked if she’s still going to church.  Her answer was, “No, I just stay home and you know…. talk in private and pray.  That’s what is important, right?”

I really don’t think that one can claim to love Jesus but at the same time despise his bride whom he loves and died for.

There’s a short post on Patheos.com on this subject that hammer the points that those who love Jesus cannot at the same time hate the church.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/chorusinthechaos/loving-jesus-not-church/

A recent issue of Christianity Today published a research article on the make-up of Christians who don’t go to church. 

“They still love Jesus, still believe in Scripture, and most of the tenets of their Christian faith. But they have lost faith in the church,” said Roxanne Stone, editor in chief of Barna Group.

Here’s the link to the article:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/april/love-jesus-not-church-barna-spiritual-but-not-religious.html

I’d like to close with this great hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation”

 

The Shack

With the release of “The Shack” movie, I am reposting this old post from 2009.

“The Shack” is a theological FICTION novel by William P. Young.  I was first made aware of it in one of the discussion group mailing lists that I belong to.   If memory serves well it was back in January and I have forgotten about it until this weekend.   On Saturday we went to Costco to replenish some of the household items, and I saw this book.  Today we went to Border’s to pick up a copy of “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense” and once again I spotted “The Shack” on the same Bestselling shelf.

“The Shack” may have gained its popularity that made it one of the bestselling books.  Despite its popularity among Christians, and I would guess, among young Christians, there are some concerns that we need to know about this book- concerns that are far too dangerous to ignore. Continue reading “The Shack”

Year’s End

A prayer from “The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions”

O Love beyond Compare,
Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me.

Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart,
ingratitude, distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.

Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou has appointed storms of tribulation, thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die, I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love, I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

Christmas 2016

“Who could do this unless the Son of God should also become the Son of man, and so receive what is ours as to transfer to us what is his, making that which is his by nature to become ours by grace?  Relying on this earnest, we trust that we are the sons of God, because the natural Son of God assumed to himself a body of our body, flesh of our flesh, bones of our bones, that he might be one with us…”

-John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, translated by Henry Beveridge, book II, xii, 2

A Case for Amillennialism

The book reading group at our church is currently going through “A Case for Amillennialism” by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger.   It is a book about Eschatology- a combination of two Greek words, ‘eschatos’ and ‘logos’ which mean last and the word, respectively- or the doctrine about the last things.  The book begins with four major views of the Millennium, or a thousand-year period mentioned in the book of Revelation.  Those four major views are Dispensationalism (both classic and  Progressive), Historic Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism. 

While all agree on one blessed hope of the second advent of Christ, each has its own distinctive interpretation of the millennial kingdom.  While Dispensationalism, popularized by Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” (I still keep a copy of it) in the 1970’s and lately by the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins,  is quite possibly the most widely embraced view in the American Christianity, is quite possibly the most embraced view in American Christianity it is not the faithful interpretation of the Scriptures. Continue reading “A Case for Amillennialism”

Electricity Rates Increase

I’ve been thinking about switching our PG&E Electric Schedule from E-6 to EV1.  After punching some numbers, I was quite shocked at how much the electricity rates have gone up in a 4-year period!

After we have installed solar panels, I built a simple program to keep track of our electricity usage, and how much we spent daily, weekly, and monthly.  Thus, I still have the rates from 2011-12 period.

The two charts below show the electricity rates for E-6 residential customers in 2011-12 and 2016. Off-peak rates have gone up  60.6% increase in Summer months from May – October and  58.6% in Winter months from November – April.  Ever wonder why installing solar panels is a good investment?

pgesummer

pgewinter